Tangled Threads of Fate
by Mrryl-Lord of Shaded Dreams
Summary: Summary on the Epilogue... RATED [PG] FOR LANGUAGE AND VIOLENCE.... I HAVE ALSO FIXED ALL THE MESSY TEXT... so it should be more agreeable to the eyes!
1. EPILOGUE

EPILOGUE AND EXPLANATION 

Hey, this is Mrryl (Mer-ill, in case you were wondering how to pronounce it). Thanks for taking a glance at my Inu Yasha fanfic! Yep, if you want you can skip this portion, but it would help explain the story better if you did read it. I'm not going to give away the story, just explaining what it's about. Here's the main plot: A "What If?" story I'd been musing about for weeks now, and finally wrote it down... er... typed down. In this "What If?" fic, all the characters (or most, anyway) are flipped, such as Inu Yasha is no longer an Inu Hanyou (half-dog demon) and Kagome is a Neko Hanyou (half- cat demon) I'll explain everything later...

If you don't want to read this, click on the "next" button on the chapters bar and continue on to the first chapter. But like I said, this will help explain the changes of nearly EVERYTHING.

Alright, first I'm going to explain the biggest changes (excluding the plot, of course) this big change is the characters. If there is any change in the name, I will have it like this: New name/ Old Name. Mainly the name will be the same, but you might not recognize them if I just post them as what they are now. Here we go!

- Inuyasha/ Inu Yasha – Yes, I know it isn't that big of a name change, but it's still important because modern day names don't split, even when the person has two first names they're usually hyphenated so it ends up like this. Anyways, the changes in his personality include the fact that he is no longer a Hanyou, he is a 15 year old kid, who wears the Shikon No Tama (I can't remember if I spelled that all correctly) on a necklace around his neck. He and his family live in what was Kagome's house in the series with his older brother Sesshoumaru and his father, Inutaisho. He is a calm, collected kid who has strong Shintoist ties. (Males cannot be Mikos, remember?) He actually learns how to use the spear, instead of the bow or sword because when I wrote the story it was more functional for him to keep the spear, so I changed the Tetsusaiga. He is the reincarnation of Ano, who replaces Kikyo entirely. His appearance is much like his human form, actually, it is exactly the same except for the haori, which ended up on Kagome's alternate form. He instead wears the typical black Japanese school uniform (which I think totally kick arse!).

- Nekogome/ Kagome – A picky, untrusting Neko Hanyou. She was both the beloved of Ano and the Hanyou he was forced to seal in a statue. When she is released by Inuyasha, she acts much like Inu Yasha from the series, a mean, sarcastic half-demon who neither likes nor trusts anyone. She still uses the bow, and gains a bow-Tetsusaiga. She has a mean, younger brother, Souta, who is fully demon and has aged in her "seal-ence" he is now older than she is, or at least looks like it. He rules the Western Kingdoms in her stead, because he is a full-demon and she is not. The matters of father/mother are th same as Inu Yasha, her parents died and Jii-chan has taken Jaken's place. I changed her name to what it is because Inu Yasha's name had something to do with his dog-demon heritage (Inu means dog to those who don't know) so I put Neko into her name (which means cat) she wears the fire rat haori. It is exactly the same as Inu Yasha's, so just picture a female Inu Yasha with cats ears and a furry, cat-like tail.

- Miroku(I just couldn't change my favorite characters name!) – He is now a taijiya (demon exterminator) and has lost his entire family, this has left him hard as stone and more angry than anyone else in the group. He rarely has a vulnerable moment and is constantly being groped, patted, and generally harassed by Sango, the perverted Bhuddist priestess (I don't think I spelt Bhuddist correctly, gomen sorry to all of you who do worship him, please tell me how to spell it if I misspelled it!). He uses Hiraikotsu, the giant wooden boomerang that was once Sango's weapon, and is not cursed with the kaazana, because it isn't his curse anymore. He wears armor like Sango's was and his hair is still the cut short frayed mess that it is in the series.

- Sango (No changes because the name still works) – "She is a lecherous, perverted Bhuddist priestess" is how Miroku often describes her. She is dressed in robes that are tight enough to show off her body, yet loose enough to not show too much. She uses the same staff as Miroku, which I cannot remember the name of. Her mannerisms are a bit worse than Miroku's was, as she endlessly teases him and gropes him and he cannot do anything physical to her other than shove her away. She has the kaazana on her right arm and suffers the same fate as Miroku does in the series. Her robes are the same black and blue as Mirokus. So she is practically a female, more perverted Miroku!

- Ano/ Kikyo – The main change is that Kikyo is now a man, and he is a Shinto Priest instead of a Miko. Ano also uses the spear instead of the bow. Actually I'm toying with the idea of giving him a Naginata, which is a very large and powerful type of spear. He was known for sealing thousands of powerful demons into statues and then destroying the statues, sending the demons spirit to reincarnation, or wherever demon spirits go when they die. But he ends up falling in love with the Neko Hanyou, Nekogome and when she steals the powerful Shikon no Tama he is forced to deal with her also. But when he finally catches her and fights her with all he has. But when he the fight is over, neither can stand up. He uses his power to seal her body into a statue and with his last breath is about to destroy it, but instead joins her, using a powerful spell to defend her from any damage until the say when she might be released. As he himself changed into stone with his arms around her, he lost control and changed totally. They lay, clasped in the forest of Nekogome, awaiting eternity.

- Souta – He replaces the emotionless Sesshoumaru as the early adversary of the fanfic. He uses his full-blooded Neko Youkai abilities to be a fearsome demon. He is searching for their mothers great weapon, the Tetsusaiga. He hates Nekogome as much as Sesshoumaru hates Inu Yasha in the series.

- Sesshoumaru – He replaces Souta as the friendly brother of the main character. He is still a pr!ck sometimes, and they still have a sibling rivalry thing going amongst them, but it isn't nearly as bad as in the series. He is adept with the spear and has been both Inuyasha's day-today teacher, when Inutaisho is busy, and rival when they compete. He is a lot better than Inuyasha, and he is arrogant about that. But he still looks after Inuyasha. - Inutashio – Okay, bigget change: he's alive. That's pretty much all I have to go on, but he's going to be a loving father and a nice guy. Very supportive of his kids and a powerful Shinto Priest.

- Tetsusaiga – It is a bow instead of a daikatana, with much the same properties as the daikatana. The actual bow is made from the arm bones of Souta's and Nekogome's mother. The arrows are formed from her claws and fangs.

I believe that is all. Also, I made this a Humor story because I find it funny how Miroku's getting harassed by Sango, instead of the other way around. Also, thier should be other things that are funny about this story.  
Note to all you people who want to know:  
"I'm not going to re-write the series except with the characters changed, I'll keep the ideas the same, except it'll be my own story. This is mainly because I haven't seen all the episodes and don't want to mess up that badly by not giving an accurate account of what happens in the series. Also, any characters that I haven't posted up here are either going to wait until they come along, or they haven't changed... yet."


	2. When Worlds Collide

Litadrene: Oi! Have you finished that damned chapter yet?

Mrryl: Nearly… just give me a few more seconds….

Litadrene: Well… WORK FASTER! (Whacks Mrryl upside the head)

Mrryl: Hey! What the H! Back off, woman! Or else I'll never finish my first Inu Yasha Fanfic's first chapter! Then I'll pummel you!

Litadrene: Fine! I'm leaving! You call me over when your done and I'll read it! (Stalks away, leaving Mrryl puzzled and confused)

Mrryl: Alright… anyways, everyone enjoy the first chapter!

(The above was the conversation I was having with a friend when I was nearly done this chapter… she wanted to see what "her idea", who is Nekogome, would do)

DISCLAIMER: Mrryl: Hey! Litadrene, did you know I own Inu Yasha?

Litadrene: You wish….

Mrryl: Yeah…

CHAPTER 1: When Worlds Collide

Inuyasha sat up quickly, staring dully at the alarm on his nightstand as it rang in the annoying "BUZZ! BUZZ! BUZZ!" of a bug in his brain. Noticing that the time was 7:20 AM. "Damn! I'm gonna be late for school!" It was the day before his 15th birthday and he was stoked. The excitement of finally being allowed to stay out past 10:00 PM was manifested in that single day, tomorrow. He slid out of bed, jumping into his black school uniform as quickly as possible. Running downstairs into the kitchen he ran face to face with a very angry Sesshoumaru. Normally this wouldn't bother him but he blanched when he found Inutaisho standing beside him, a disciplinary look on his face. Inuyasha knew he was in for it.

"Inuyasha, you can't risk being late! You have alright marks, but you should get an education! It is the most important thing, besides your Shinto training, that you should be working on!" Inutaisho said, his voice reflecting the annoyance at having to lecture his son for waking up late, again. Inuyasha stood there, finding the floor extremely interesting at the moment. Sesshoumaru, however, finally stepped in.

"Father, Inuyasha won't do it again, right Inuyasha?" The words caught Inuyasha physically off guard, Sesshoumaru was actually defending him? "Besides, we don't' really have time for lectures, Inuyasha and I are going to be late as it is! I don't want to have to get yelled at in front of the class by Mr. Houjinki again! Come on— " Sesshoumaru grabbed his hand, leading him out the door "—let's get moving, you can deal with missing breakfast for once." He said as he led Inuyasha down the temple grounds, practically dragging the still sleepy Inuyasha down the street to the bus stop.

As usual, Inuyasha found his eyes caught by the odd feeling he had whenever he glanced at the wellhouse. Finally they reached the bus stop. Sesshoumaru stopped, letting Inuyasha go and saying, "Alright, stand up straight. Father can still see us and he won't like it if you show that you have just awoken. Stand!" Sesshoumaru menaced as he slapped Inuyasha on the back, making Inuyasha jolt upright, to not slouch. Finally, after Sesshoumaru noticed that Inutaisho stopped watching them, he said, "I'm going to go hang out with Jaken and Hojima. See you after school." He then headed off to his two friends, who were on the opposite side of the bus stop. Inuyasha looked a the two, examining the short teenager who Sesshoumaru had shook hands with. Jaken and Sesshoumaru had been friends since preschool and Hojima came along at elementary school. Jaken seemed to be a slave of Sesshoumaru's though. He was constantly fulfilling Sesshoumaru's every desire.

Looking around, Inu Yasha noticed Houjo, the over-friendly kid who was the only person who was really nice to him. Waving at him, he walked over to him, saying, "How're you today, Houjo?" he was greeted with the usual smile that Houjo always seemed to wear and the same response, "Great!" with a happy handshake. After that, the pair were silent, neither talking. When the bus finally came Inuyasha got on and rode it to school, passing through the day quickly and thoughtlessly.

Finally, he came home. Entering the door, he dropped his school bag and went instantly towards the cupboard, pulling out the ramen and filling a kettle with water to boil. While the water was boiling he searched the house, shouting, "Hey! Dad! Where are you?" Upon receiving no answer, he went back to the kitchen, seeing a note on the table.

"Gone for the rest of the night, have to bless the new apartment construction grounds in Downtown Tokyo. Don't wait up for supper. Eat. Love, Father/Dad" Inuyasha laughed as he read the note. His dad was a Shinto Priest so Japanese construction companies and the like wanted him to bless their construction site to appease the kami that resided there. But the thing that made him laugh was the mild joke at the end of the note, "Father/Dad". Sesshoumaru always called Inutaisho Father, in his formal tone. Inuyasha called him Dad. So Inutaisho ended up writing both on most of his notes.

As he began thinking about Sesshoumaru, he walked through the door. He nose was a purple-blue color and he had some scrapes and cuts on his face and arms. Inuyasha sighed, "Have you been fighting again, Sessh?" he called him by his nickname (which I will now be referring to him as, because constantly writing Sesshoumaru takes too long!) Sessh usually loved that nickname, it would almost always bring a slight smirk to his face even on his worst days. But Sessh didn't smile this time, instead he raised his fist and slammed it into Inuyasha's face, sending him onto his butt. Inuyasha stared at him in confusion, his eyes beginning to glisten with unshed tears as the fact that Sessh had hit him, not the pain itself. Sessh looked straight at Inuyasha, his eyes twisted into an angry glare as he stared at the kid at his feet. Finally, Sessh's expression softened, he reached down and pulled Inuyasha to his feet, saying, "Sorry, I didn't mean to hit you. I just had a bad day and I got into a fight today and I didn't need someone bugging me about if I got into a fight and—" he glanced at the boiling kettle "how much water is in there? Enough for two?" he asked, Inuyasha found himself laughing lightly as he nodded. Sessh went to the cupboard, grabbing another packet of ramen and turning towards Inuyasha as he threw it on the counter. "Forgive me?" he asked. Inuyasha nodded again and brushed away the tears. When they finally made the ramen and were eating it Sessh stopped, grabbing both Inuyasha attention and his hand.

"If I gave you an early birthday present, would you accept it and treasure it as much as I have? Wear it always, no matter how 'girly' it looks?" Inuyasha nodded emphatically, Sessh had never given him anything besides a sound beating in their spear sparring. When Sessh removed a necklave from around his neck, a family heirloom that had been passed down for generations, Inuyasha gasped. It was supposed to be passed down to the first born child, always. But here the rule was being broken, Sessh was giving it to him, the second. He took it gingerly in his hands, starring at the white oval beads that surrounded the thing black string that held it all together. The entire necklace was surrounded by it, except for the one part that was always his interest. The orb of glistening light was in his hands now, warm despite the fact that the room was cold. It seemed as though swirling clouds of purple and blue, white and black circulated the insides of the jewel. He smiled, remember how often he had sat, watching the colors inside when it hung around his brothers neck. Now it was his.

Sessh watched his brothers expression, noting the subtle wonder in the eyes and the more obvious gaping mouth. He smiled, raising from his place and saying, "Happy birthday, Inuyasha." As he left the room he finished the gift giving with a single statement, "I guess since Father isn't here, you can stay up late tonight, it is Friday after all…." The thought hit him as he stared into the jewel. He hadn't even noticed that tomorrow was his birthday.

The next day he awoke bright and early, slipping out of bed and down the stairs. He had excess energy that day and knew why, it was his 15th birthday! He ran outside, feeling the jingling jewel against his chest, liking the warmth that spread through his chest whenever it touched his skin. When he got outside he went for the shack at the back of the house, grabbing a short-shafted spear. Running back out into the main courtyard he launched into a kata that Sessh had taught him the night before. Swing, stab, jump, kick, punch, jab, leap, he did all these and more in a complicated dance of both athletic skill and deadly srikes. Anyone who walked into the path he moved along would have been killed if they didn't have his skill, which seemed dwarfed by Sessh's skill with the spear. But at the moment he felt like a world-class athlete, boundlessly energetic and highly skilled. He soon attracted a crowd of watchers, some male but most female. He didn't notice however as he was too enamored in his dance. When he finally stopped, sweat drenched and panting, everyone clapped and Sessh stepped outside, smiling as he grabbed a short-shafted spear as well. He started walking towards Inuyasha, spear spinning in an almost hypnotic rhythm. It hummed as he shouted, "Let's spar! I want to see how you have improved!" When they launched into the spar, the onlookers gasped, the spears were obviously sharpened and they were both skilled and determined. But one false move could kill either of them. When Inuyasha finally slipped up, spinning in a too wide swing, he tripped, falling over just as Sessh's spear darted in to land a harmless blow. The blow was off-set and therefore caused more harm than he had intended. Inuyasha gasped as the blade bit into his arm, sending blood splattering across the courtyard. Sessh swore, turning towards the onlookers he said, "Looks like the shows over, everyone please leave immediately." When one person voiced concern over the wound Sessh answered, "He'll be fine, now please leave."

Once the people left, Sessh bandaged Inuyasha's arm with a towel he grabbed from inside. But once they got up, they both heard a quick clatter of wood from the wellhouse. Sessh and Inuyasha looked at each other, Inuyasha saying, "It's probably Bozo! I'll get him!" he said as he ran over to the wellhouse, Sessh yelling behind him, "Wait— get that damned cat out of there!" Inuyasha found himself wondering why he heard a note of fear and worry in Sessh's voice when he said "wait". But he merely ran headlong into the wellhouse, looking around when he entered the house. Nothing was there, but he saw what made the clatter, the wooden seal on the well had been obliterated. The wood was broken outwards, splinters that still clung to the well pointed upwards, meaning something had come out of the well.

Before Inuyasha could do anything however, he found himself being hoisted into the air by a great arm. It pulled him down into the well and Inuyasha expected himself to break bones when he hit the bottom, but it never came. Instead he saw a keliedoscope of colors, ranging from the whites, blue, purples and blacks of the jewel around his neck, to the vibrant reds, oranges and greens of nature. When he landed on the ground it was in a far different well. He looked around for what had brought him here, but didn't see anything. When he finally noticed some vines he could climb to get out of the well he found himself on a hill, with a forest surrounding him in nearly every direction. And above the canopy of the forest, stood the large tree that was on the temple grounds.

"Aha! If I get there, I can get home! All I have to do is keep the tree in sight, then I'll be home soon!" So he ran off in that direction, knowing that Sessh would kill him for disappearing like that. He ran into the forest, heading immediately for the tree. But when he reached it, he didn't understand.

At the foot of the tree wasn't his home, there was no house, or anything like that. Instead, standing at the base of the tree, stood a statue of the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She was entirely gray, not even painted she was startling. She stood with a pained gasp on her face, frozen forever like that, her left arm was raised in front of her as if to ward off some sort of blow and her right arm was open behind her, as if to swing. Taking a few steps closer he noticed that she had cute little ears and a tail that ran down to her legs. Planted firmly on her chest was a Japanese paper with Shinto symbols he recognized as a seal to ward off evil. Reaching forward, he prepared to pull off the paper, then gasped and pulled his hand back as a sharp electrical burst shot forth from a circle etched into the ground around the statue and into his arm. Quite suddenly, he saw an arrow whiz past his head and burst into flames as it passed the circle. He turned, prepared to yell at the person who shot at him. Instead he raised his hands in the air, 5 men stood behind him, all had arrows trained on him and were ready to fire. One of them, a burly man with a beard asked, "Who are you? You had better come with us!" So Inuyasha merely stepped forward, saying, "I'll come with you, I'm Inuyasha Tojima. I don't know where I am but I'm apparently lost, could you guys stop—" but his words were cut off as a heavy object hit him from behind, knocking him unconscious.

There ya go! The first chapter… sorry for the abrupt ending but I'll have the next chapter up soon. So don't worry! I'm also sorry for the changing the characters so much, and you'll already notice some less obvious differences in the story already, see if you can name them in a REVIEW (PLEASE REVIEW?)

Daniel… #1 on line 43 page 1 you wrote "slapped Inuyasha on the back, making Inuyasha jolt upright, to stand straight up and not slouch" you don't need ", to stand straight up and not slouch" they get the idea. I got it and I'm a moron. Going to bed now good so far … "**cough. Cough** only read page one so far"


	3. The Neko

Mrryl: Alright, now for the second chapter… have fun reading it!

Litadrene: Second? I haven't read the first yet!

Mrryl: Oh well, everyone else wants the second… so read the first on the site!

Litadrene: Oh… alright!

"DISCLAIMER: Obviously, however regrettably, I don't own Inu Yasha…"

When Inuyasha awoke, he was startled to find himself bound up in a house of some kind. It seemed to be a house because it had straw mats and a brazier in the center of the room. Looking around, he finally noticed a warm squishy something in his mouth, _Hmmm… is it a gag?_ He thought to himself as he tried to look around as best he could from his hunched up position on the floor. His arms were tied behind his back and another rope was tied around his feet, the obvious tautness of the muscles in his legs and arms suggested that someone had hog-tied him, to that the ropes tying his feet and hands were tied together. He attempted to keep looking, hearing a clinking of something behind him he tried spinning around, startled when a hand cut off the ropes binding his hands and feet. He quickly used his hands to pull out the gag and sat up, looking at the person who had cut his bonds. His rescuer was an old woman, easily around 60 years old. She was wearing a red and white kimono with an eye patch covering one eye. She looked at him, her one eye widening as she said, "Is it you, Ano? Big brother?"

Inuyasha nearly laughed, thinking she was jesting. When it became apparent that she wasn't he gasped, saying quickly, "No, I'm Inuyasha! I don't know who you're talking about! I fell into a well and when I hit the bottom I climbed back out, but I was here instead of where I was when I fell in. I know this sounds crazy, but believe me! I'm telling the truth!" he sat back when he was finished, rocking on his heels as he watched her take in the words. He saw her face scrutinize him, her eyebrows raised in disbelief then disappointment that her big brother hadn't, in fact, returned to her. An uncomfortable silence filled the room as neither had anything to say. Finally, Inuyasha broke the silence by clearing his throat and saying, "I want to know how to go home. This is really weird, I just want to go back home. Do you know how?"

Kaede answered with a shake of her head, "No, I'm sorry young one. I cannot help ye with the journey home but--" she was interrupted when a large boom was heard outside of the room, and a few people screaming. "Youkai! Youkair! Everyone, get weapons! Scatter! Come on!" the voice was familiar, but Inuyasha couldn't place it. The one word though, caught his attention quite well. "Youkai? Do they actually exist, wherever here is?" Kaede nodded, grabbing a bow and a quiver of arrows as she headed outside. Inuyasha followed her, unsure of what he should expect.

He couldn't have expected what he saw, it was a 7 foot tall human with purple skin, and overly muscular arms that seemed to drag on the ground. He swiped at a building and it collapsed under his powerful arms. The thing reminded him of a large ape or something. The youkai looked around, saw Inuyasha and roared, "SHIKON NO TAMA!" as it charged straight at Inuyasha. He did the only thing he could think of, he ran away, quickly.

Inuyasha just ran, saying in his head, _left, right, left, right,_ as he ran, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other, not on his chest, which felt on the verge of exploding from lack of oxygen. Suddenly he slowed, his heart and lungs pounding. He was standing in front of the Goshinboku Tree, the tree that was in the courtyard of the shrine. Standing in front of the tree was the same beautiful statue, the tail still curled around the legs and the one arm still held out protectively in front of her, her face still frozen in a look of betrayal and sadness that he felt his heart leap for the statue, his vision blurring as his eyes filled with tears. The paper seal was still pressed against the stone haori, seemingly suspended in midair. The circle, which Inuyasha now noticed was etched around the ground in a white powder, glowed slightly. Stepping nearer, Inuyasha suddenly had the urge to take the ugly piece of paper off of the beautiful girl-statue. He could hear the crashing of tree limbs behind him, knew that the youkai was near, yet he had the strongest urge to rip the seal away from the haori, and he didn't even realize that the shield around the statue would zap him painfully. Didn't even remember that little detail until he felt something ancient in his hands, a rough piece of paper. He was holding onto the paper on the girl-statue's haori, one quick jerk would rip the ugly paper away form the statue and it would be perfect. The crashing behind him was louder, but he didn't notice. With a smirk, he ripped the seal away from the statue and was launched backwards, onto his arse. The statue glowed yellow and blue as the stone haori turned into red fabric and the hair, ears and tail turned into white fur/hair. The skin turned slightly red, as if she had just finished a fast-paced activity. The girl looked around, seeing him she said, "Ano! I'm gonna kill you!" and she leapt at the shield, yelping in pain as the walls zapped her and sent her onto her arse. She rubbed her butt and said, "Hey, Ano! Are you too chicken shit to fight me? You lock me up in this damn prison and leave me here to die? Hmph! Wait… I remember… you pressing the damned seal against my chest! YOU TURNED ME INTO A FCKIN' STATUE! How could you? You bastard! I'm gonna kill you! When I'm—" but she was cut off as Inuyasha stood up, yelling, "I don't know who this Ano is, but I'm Inuyasha! Got it? Listen, what just happened? You were a statue a few seconds ago! Now you're yelling at me, calling me Ano? I'M NOT HIM!" His face was exceedingly red from yelling at the top of his lungs after not recovering from all of the running he had just done.

When the youkai ran through the brush, yelling at the top of its lungs, "SHIKON NO TAMA!" the girl gasped.

"Sorry, I'm uhhh… Nekogome! Pleased to meet you, now, let me outta here or that thing'll kill you! Unless you know how to pulla weapon outta your ass!" shouted the cat girl, Nekogome. Inuyasha stared, dumbfounded.

"I don't know what to do! I freed you just by kinda reaching out and grabbing the paper, when I first tried to do that, the circle zapped me! What should I do?" he yelled.

"Well, since it's just chalk, try brushing it away, break the circle!" Nekogome yelled, cursing human stupidity. Inuyasha ran towards the circle, a few paces away. The oversized youkai took a swipe at him, barely missing him. Inuyasha broke into a baseball slide, feet first. Once his feet brushed away a small portion of the circle the entire circle stopped glowing and Nekogome squealed in excitement. She leapt into the air, yelling, "Blood Blades Claw Dance!" as she spun in a circle, making contact with the youkai and neatly splitting it in half. This didn't discourage the youkai, however, as it merely moved it's upper body on its strong arms. It's legs grew a small set of arms and an insect-like head as it ran towards Nekogome, squeaking as it jumped at her, clamping on her left arm and injecting a needle like arm into it. Nekogome went livid when she felt something run into her arm. "Shit! Poison!" she yelled as she swung at the insect youkai. She was extremely relieved, therefore, when she saw a large wooden limb come crashing down on the insects head. When it's grip loosened she grabbed the arm and pulled it out of her, slashing at the lower half of the big youkai with her claws until it was a bloody mess on the ground. Then the upper half of the big youkai launched forwards. One arm grabbed Inuyasha by the neck and the other arm grabbed Nekogome. Both were held in a vice grip, neither could breath. The mouth of the big youkai shouted triumphantly, 'SHIKON NO TAMA!" as it continued choking the life out of them.

It's eyes opened wide when a gleaming arrow punched into its chest and ripped a whole through it. It let go of its victims quickly, bellowing as two more arrows cut it to shreds, its remaining pieces left to flutter to the ground. Inuyasha hit the floor with a thud, Nekogome falling over and leaning on him, both gasping for air and coughing.

Kaede walked up the road from behind the youkai, her bow loaded with another arrow, this one pointed at Nekogome. "I don't know what freed ye, but I cannot let you get away, neko hanyou!" Inuyasha was taken aback, of course the tail and ears, as well as claws and slight fangs, were a dead give away, he had hoped she wasn't. He was firmly surprised when she leaped behind him and hide, whispering, "I didn't do anything! Don't let her kill me… please!" He could hear the pleading whine in her voice and so he got up, saying to Kaede, "She's okay, whatever she did, she's probably sorry for it and will never do it again." Kaede lowered her bow, putting the arrow back in the quiver with a slight scraping sound. Nekogome smirked, this was the signal she was waiting for. She quickly shot up and grabbed Inuyasha from behind, putting her claws against his throat and saying, "Give me the Shikon No Tama, or I'll rip you to shreds!" Inuyasha gasped, she had betrayed him, she had lied to him!

"Go ahead, kill me! I don't believe this! You know what?" he said as he spun around and quickly jabbed her in the face, knocking her off her feet and into the ground. Inuyasha ran towards Kaede, who had pulled an odd looking necklace out of her kimono.

"Quickly, child! Get closer!" Kaede said as Inuyasha stopped next to Kaede. Nekogome was getting up, her face red and her eyes glimmering with tears.

"Alright, you want it that way, eh asshole? Fine! I'll cut both of you to shreds!" she screamed as she leapt towards them, claws raised. Kaede made some simple hand gestures then whispered a single word. The necklace flew to pieces and landed around the hanyous neck.

"Quickly, a word of disabling!' Kaede yelled to Inuyasha, who stood watching the hanyou flying towards them. He stuttered, saying, "I don't know any! What should I say?"

"Anything! Just make it sound as if to disable, you needn't actually know a proper word." One word popped into Inuyasha's head, the same word that he said whenever his cat jumped onto the T.V or was being bad.

"DOWN!" Inuyasha yelled, watching in satisfaction as the necklace, made of beads and fangs, glowed brightly blue and she was suddenly "whooshed" to the ground, landing face first with an angry curse and muffled swearing.

"Let us go before she gets up." Kaede led him back towards the village, which was being rebuilt before his eyes. Kaede led him to her hut, opening the door and beckoning him to follow her. He sat down near the burning brazier, then suddenly shot up when he said, "I have to go, that Nekogome will be after me and I can't risk her attacking the town!" Kaede merely smiled, saying, "She will not attack anyone while she wears the necklace, all you need say when you know she is around is that word you said and she shall be pacified for a few minutes. Now eat some stew and go to sleep, we shall try to find out how you can get home when you awaken tomorrow. And so he ate a bowl of stew, then another, and another, before he finally tucked himself in, wishing Kaede a good rest before drifting off to sleep himself.

Outside, a girl with the eyes, ears and tail of a cat sat in a tree, watching Inuyasha gulp down three bowls of stew before falling asleep. He admired him for his courage and for caring about her, when that insect youkai nearly poisoned her, but he was a human, and she couldn't stand humans. Could she? "Goodnight, Inuyasha."

Mrryl: So, what do you think? I'm not quite sure about the ending, it isn't really in context with the real plot, but then again, what would be the fun in writing a fanfic if you can't mess around with it a little. Sorry about those of you who think I messed with the characters too much, but I'm trying to make them act like the person they're supposed to be, not who they originally are, although some of the old Inuyasha has already shone through in his love for ramen. But yeah, everyone will have something of their old personality with them, but for a majority it will be different. Sorry it took so long to write!

Litadrene: Yeah… I've gotta get you to re-write some of this stuff…. MORE FLUFF! I like FLUFF! Not necessarily lemon or lime… just fluff.

Mrryl: There'll be enough fluff later on, never you mind! You just wait! Impatient one!

Litadrene: Yes master… hehehe. Alright, but get writing, or I'll have to chain you to your computer desk until you write the next chapter!

PLEASE REVIEW!

VVVVV


	4. Shattering Reality

Mrryl: Hiya! I'm kinda bored, so I wrote this one earlier, that's why Litadrene won't be making any comments to try and thwart me! Mwahahaha! Err… yeah, anyways. Enjoy this next chapter of "Tangled Threads of Fate"!

(DISCLAIMER: I NEED MORE REVIEWS… errr… I DON'T OWN INUYASHA, regrettably….)

Inuyasha awoke to a heavy wind outside, howling around the window shutters. Then there was a crack of thunder and a flash of lightning. This seemed to pop a bubble of water because quite suddenly rain began pouring from the sky, anyone caught outside would most likely be instantly soaked. Then he pulled up his sleeve, looking at the time, "12:00 AM, It's still early! I'm going back to sleep…." But no sooner did he lay down then he sat bolt upright, hearing a slight squeal and a loud thud as something hit the ground outside of the hut.

When he went outside, armed with a staff, he saw the source of the sound. A certain Neko hanyou had fallen from her perch on a tree branch and was huddled into a ball, her arms covering her head and Inuyasha could have sworn he heard some mild cursing at rain in particular. He just smiled and walked over to Nekogome, tapping her on the head lightly. He nearly laughed when she raised her head to yell, "Damn it! Rain

Quit—" but cut herself off as she looked into the eyes of Inuyasha. He saw her blush slightly and say, "Ummm… sorry?" He barely heard her however, as he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her towards Kaede's hut. When he started to enter, Nekogome yowled, "I can't go in there! That's HER hut! Let go of me!" but Inuyasha pulled her inside anyways, ignoring her digging claws.

When, after a small struggle, Nekogome stumbled in she gasped, Kaede lay sleeping in the deep lazy sleep only older people can fall into and the brazier in the middle of the hut was still burning, giving the hut a warm feel to it. Inuyasha let go of Nekogome, looking down at the slightly deep claw marks on his hand.

"Sorry… I'm kinda squeamish about going into a house of someone who tried to KILL ME last time we met!" she huffed, her face twisted into an indignant glare as Inuyasha looked back at her. He shrugged, feeling the sting in his hand as he grabbed her around the shoulders and moved her close to the brazier, noting that she was sopping wet and was dripping rainwater on the mats.

"Get close to the fire, get warm. I wouldn't want you catching a cold." He merely said, heading back towards his futon when he managed to get her sitting down. She swore under her breath, saying, "I don't need a human's help! I don't catch—" she was cut off by a violent sneeze "maybe I do, but not for long!" she sneezed again, hugging herself and shivering slightly. Inuyasha smirked, thinking to himself. _She's too proud to admit she needs help, kinda like Sessh. _When he reached his futon he pulled up his blanket, draping it over his shoulder as he walked back towards her. When he was looking down at her, she was zoned out, staring into the fire. He found himself staring at her. She was so beautiful, white locks of hair clung to her forehead and her eyes seemed glazed over. Her body was showing quite evidently because despite the haori covering everything on her except her hands and neck, the dampness of it made it cling to her body, showing off her curves. He shook his head, swinging the blanket around her shoulder. This made her jump and swing her gaze towards him.

"What's this for?" she asked, confused.

"Well, it's called a blanket, you use it to keep yourself warm," he answered, using the tone of someone who explains a cultural thing to foreigners.

"I know that! I meant why are you giving it to me? Aren't you going to be cold?" she asked, looking at the light clothing he was wearing.

"Nope, I have a nice warm place right now," he said, sitting down next to her. She winced when he wrapped his right arm around her back and pulled her close. She was now shaking, her eyes squeezed shut. "Hey, what's wrong? Are you alright?" he asked, the concern in his voice the only thing that reached her poised ears.

She almost stopped shivering, saying, 'What? You're not going to hurt me?" he shook his head, answering, "Why would I? Just let me warm you up a bit then I'll leave you alone, alright?" she nodded and this time snuggled up close to him. He smiled and wrapped his left arm around her, holding her in his arms in a gentle hug. He could hear her sigh in contentment and before long even he could tell she fell asleep, her breath even and deep. When he next blinked it was morning, and he was alone.

Interlude ---Sorry about that last part, for those of you who think it's too fluffy (for this early, at least) Litadrene made a surprise visit and threatened to bean to senseless if I didn't put more fluff in it, sorry for the interlude, I just had to explain the last scene. ---

Walking outside, he stretched the kinks of sleeping upright out of his back. When he looked around some men were rebuilding the housing that was destroyed by the youkai. Other men were working in the fields, planting rice and tilling the fields. The women were either helping them or watching the children play with each other in the open center of the town. Kaede was watching the men work with little interest, so he walked up to her, waving and saying, "Hi! How are you this morning?"

She shook her head, "Not good, these old bones always hurt after a storm. I saw ye sleeping sitting up near the brazier when I awoke, alone. Is this common in your world?" she asked, her gaze on his face.

He blushed, saying, "No, but I was having trouble sleeping so I sat up and watched the fire until I fell asleep I guess. By the way, did you see the girl around here anywhere?"

"Girl? Oh, you mean the Neko Hanyou you freed yesterday. No, and hopefully we never will. That girl was little more than trouble when I was ten, despite the fact that she has been sealed up for 50 years I doubt she will ever be more than such." Kaede huffed, leaving Inuyasha feeling confused, _she doesn't seem to be that bad. Maybe she's just lonely. _He decided to seek her out, searching the area around the village. She stumbled upon her quicker than he had expected.

The subject of his thoughts was dangling from a tree branch, attempting to pull herself up onto the branch, apparently. The branch was high up on the tree and it took Inuyasha a few minutes to climb the height of the branch. Once up there, she was still dangling from it, her grip beginning to slip as he crawled along the wide branch. When he was almost over her, he heard a muffled, "This is gonna hurt!" as her hands slipped off of the branch. Inuyasha gasped and dove for her hands, grabbing one before she fell to her death. The grip on her hands made her gasp and lash out, digging claws into the same hand she had last night. Inuyasha nearly swore, but held himself off as her eyes were squeezed shut. He quickly pulled her up, ignoring the claws which were half-heartedly scratching at the raw flesh of his hand.

When she was laying across the log he let go and she sat up, a scowl on her face until she realized who she was looking at. Her scowl shifted into an embarrassed smile and a blush that made her entire body a deep shade of red.

"Oh spirits! Sorry! I… I didn't mean to, I thought you were a youkai or something, come to kill me. I can fix that." She concluded when she saw no emotion play across his face. Her hands grabbed his and she bent over it, licking at the bleeding scratches on his hand. He pulled his hand back quickly, yelling, "What are you doing? That's the weirdest thing I've ever seen!" her eyes stared at the log, the blush deepening.

"I'm sorry. I should've told you what I was gonna do! The saliva of a neko youkai heals wounds quickly on beings other than the youkai. I've never had to do it before, I've never had someone try to help me before, so I don't know if it'll work but…." Her eyes remained on the log, tears were brimming in her eyes and she push herself up, a single tear trickling down her face as she began to spring up, but Inuyasha caught her.

"I'm sorry, it was MY fault. I should've told you I was coming to help you. I wanted to kinda surprise you, though. Anyways, please don't run off—" he said as she began a jump "— I just want to talk, alright?" he smiled when he saw her finally settle herself back on the branch, legs dangling off the branch. The posture seemed childish and he found himself smirking despite himself. "Alright, I just wanted to tell you that I can't give this—" he shook the necklace with the Shikon No Tama so that the little beads on it jingled as they struck each other. Nekogome eyed him intently, her golden eyes locked on his face, not the jewel. He found himself blushing as he continued, "—but I want you to help me protect it, I'm not that great in regards to the spear, and I'm barely sufficient with a sword to defend myself, let alone worry about a demon grabbing the jewel and running off. So if you could help me with the protection bit maybe I can help you with something." He concluded with a sigh, her eyes still hadn't left his face as she began to stand up, balancing herself with her tail as she said, "I'm not sure, I'll think about it." and jumped off the branch, landing on the ground with a thud and an almost audible gasp of pain. She kept walking however, not stopping to check if she had seriously hurt herself.

When he finally noticed that he was stuck up there, with no easy way to get down, he began yelling, "Nekogome! Are you just gonna leave me here? Come on! You can't do this—" but his last words were cut off as a great screech echoed from the skies. A multifaceted-eyed raven dropped from the clouds, scratching at his head with it's talons as it fluttered above him, eyes searching for something. Finally the raven found it. Reaching a talon down to Inuyasha's neck, it snipped the line of the necklace and ripped the jewel from its place on his chest. Before Inuyasha could react the damned bird had already swallowed the jewel and swooped away, leaving a bleeding Inuyasha still stranded on the branch.

The raven changed before Inuyasha's eyes. The small body grew in size, some feathers falling out to reveal scaled skin. The sharp beak became a gaping maw and the small, relatively harmless talons turned into razor sharp claws. The raven youkai swooped back towards Inuyasha, grabbing him in its talons and carrying him off. He heard a slight curse from under him and noticed that Nekogome had come back to see what was going on.

"Great going, jackass! You let the damned bird eat the Shikon No Tama and yet you won't let me even touch it! Figures! Damn human stupidity!" she cursed as she leapt after him, the trees whispering as she flew from on to the other, breaking the canopy frequently. He reached out his hand, yelling, "Grab it! Maybe you can get me down with the extra weight!" when she finally managed to latch on to his hand, she cursed, scratching a light line of red across his arm as she yelled up, "So, you think I'm fat enough to free you! Is that it?" he blanched, her claws hurt a lot more when she was pissed. He thought to himself as he felt the talons slowly begin to open, they were a few feet above the ground, just enough for Nekogome to have to run across the ground to keep from dragging herself along the ground.

"Just let go! You're gonna get hurt if you keep trying to run along with it, it's too fast." He blushed when she looked up at him, determination set into her eyes, "Never," was the single word she said when she finally pulled herself up towards the raven's talon, driving her claws deeply into the leg of the talon that was holding Inuyasha. When it released him, he fell with a thump, on top of Nekogome. The raven youkai, however, just kept flying, the blood coursing from it's leg left a bright red trail on the ground, enough for even the most inexperienced human to follow. When he found a group of hunter, throwing spears at the ready, burst from the forest, he thought that life was good. Grabbing one from the dumbfounded man closest to him, he threw it towards the raven, falling short.

"Oh come on! Ano could've landed that easily!" she huffed as she handed another to Inuyasha, who gripped it tightly and launched it, the spear's thick head ripping into the wing of the raven youkai, sending it plummeting to the earth. When it managed to begin flying again, Inuyasha was already near it, yelling, "BASTARD!" as he drove the spear into its belly. Nekogome screamed when she heard a splintering sound and a crack.

The raven youkai became mere tatters on the ground as the Shikon No Tama cracked and released all the pent-up energies inside of it. There was a bright white flash, the grass became charred and the men all covered their eyes. Nekogome stood starring at it, her eyes brimming with tears as she watched the shards fly all over the Sengoku Jidaii. When the flashing ceased, Inuyasha looked at Nekogome, who was silently crying.

"Are you alright? Nekogome… did I do something wrong? Where's the jewel? Is that what that light was? Oh crap… talk to me!" he said as he grabbed her to shake her. She jumped when he grabbed her, yelling, "Inuyasha? Is that you? What… I can't see anything!" She cried as she frantically looked around, her eyes slightly glazed. Kaede came walking into the clearing, waving the hunters away. The men bowed to her, than to Inuyasha and ran of with a glance at the frantic hanyou.

"Her eyes are merely hurt from staring at the jewel's light. She shall be fine within the next few days. I will take her to my hut until she can see… I suggest you go home if possible and explain what has happened. It is up to you." She grabbed Nekogome around the shoulders and led her to a path in the forest. Inuyasha thought to himself, wondering what to do. "How am I supposed to go home? I got here by falling into a well… maybe if I do the same thing I'll be sent back?" he said to himself as he headed for the Goshinboku, which was the only tree that broke the canopy. From there he headed for the well, which he could see clearly from there.

Leaping into the well, he saw the same odd colors and feelings when he first fell through, the odd swirling of the Shikon No Tama's colors brought about the same nausea and when he hit the bottom he looked up, seeing a dark ceiling. He was home.

Mrryl: There you are! The next chapter might take a bit longer since I'm typing 2 fanfics at once, so sorry but I want to do it this way. Please review, I would greatly appreciate it!

Litadrene: NOOOO! I shall fiercely poke you, you made Nekogome blind! I don't believe this!

Mrryl: Yeah, well. MY STORY! :-P GET OVER IT!

Litadrene: Meanie….


	5. Home Again

Mrryl: Hey, this is the next chapter!

Litadrene: Duh!

Mrryl: Whatever, sorry it took me longer than I thought it would, I got Resident Evil Zero and am kinda currently addicted to it so…. But yes, thank you to the three people who have read this, I appreciate the sentiment. Please continue to read and review and I'll keep the story going! But if no one reviews, well then I'll be more sedated in my updates because if no one is going to read it, why bother right? Anyways, I just wanted to say that I am going to take someone's advise, they pointed out the fact that I failed to discern between thought and action. Here I am going to begin _Italicizing _thoughts. I usually do this, I don't know why I hadn't for "Tangled Threads of Fate." That's all for my ranting and raving.

As Inuyasha looked up the well, he heard some mumbling from above. "What's the point of this, father?" It was Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha's older brother was asking his father about something. He could barely hear his father, Inutaisho, reply, "It is the ancient recall spell, it will pull Inuyasha back into our home from the well!" his father seemed exasperated.

When a short mumbled prayer ended, Inuyasha decided to sneak out of the well and surprise both his father and his older brother. Reaching the very edge of the well he began to pull himself up, only to feel a deluge of freezing cold liquid drench his form. It ran down his body in rivulets and splashed onto the well's dry bottom. When he managed to breath again he sniffed deeply, choking on the smell of rice wine.

"INUYASHA!" yelled his father, pulling him up and into a great bear hug. When he could manage to breath again, Sesshoumaru pulled him out of his father's arms an slapped him upside the head, "What are you, stupid? Don't sneak off like that again!" He yelled, Inuyasha cowering under the raised hand of Sesshoumaru. Then Sesshoumaru noticed the lack of the jingling Shikon No Tama.

"Where's the jewel, Inuyasha?" Sesshoumaru asked, his eyes narrowing into dire slits of warning. Inuyasha knew the look well, he knew he had better tell the truth or risk a severe punishment in a serious sparring match, which was the only way Sesshoumaru could hit Inuyasha without getting in trouble by their father, who wanted the boys to get along.

So Inuyasha began, starting from his fifteenth birthday to the day before, when the jewel had shattered. He ended with, "Then I climbed out of the well and you threw the rice wine on me and now I think I need a bath…" he found his father laughing and Sesshoumaru smiling. He found this slightly disconcerting, neither seemed vexed that the family heirloom had been shattered thanks to him. Voicing this concern he asked, "What is going to happen to the Shikon No Tama?"

This question sobered both up really quickly, they knew a lot more than Inuyasha regarding the jewel. When they pulled him into the house Inutaisho said, "Well, we should worry about one thing at a time. Take a bath then come down here, we'll have to talk about this." So Inuyasha hurried to take a bath, not ready to disagree with his father.

After his quick bath he came back downstairs, dressed in a white T-shirt and black jeans with red sweater in hand. He was startled to see some things stacked on the table, these included: A backpack, a short-shafted spear, a few javelins in a carrying case, and a duffel bag of clothes. Inutaisho sat with his arms across his legs, praying by his stance.

Sesshoumaru was no where to be seen, stepping into the room only after Inuyasha walked in. "Father, I've got the rope ladder in the well, it should be easier next time he comes back." Inuyasha was startled.

"I'm not going back! This crazy cat demon tried to kill me!" he shouted, Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed, a dangerous gesture.

"You will go back, I've already called your school saying that you are going to visit a distant relative, you shall have no trouble with school attendance. I must tell you why you are going back." This was Inutaisho, his face reflected both his grief and apprehension of sending his fifteen year old son to a dangerous place. "That jewel isn't just a piece of decoration, it holds within it all the power that any demon could ever want. When it is assembled it grants the users every wish, it can make a weakling demon into a king. We must not allow any demon to assemble it, only you may do that without any repercussions. You can do it, although you may need help." He paused again, seeming to be arguing with himself to give some extra information.

"This has been predicted already, in this book." He said as he handed a book to Inuyasha, the passage his father was talking of showed clearly.

**_"The cursed blessing will returned to its home soil, only to be shattered by one who comes from a land that cannot be reached by mundane means._**

**_ On the journey to assemble the cursed blessing, lest it fall into the hands of the evil one, there shall be a grouping, a covenant of four._**

**_ These four shall make a journey unlike that of any ever before attempted, they will each have a marking of the evil's work._**

**_ One will be that same one who shattered the cursed blessing, brought to this land by the flight of time, to ancient boughs long forgotten._**

**_ Another shall be misunderstood, prowling and hurt beyond measure by constant betrayal and pain. Only to be healed by the light of the Searcher._**

**_ The third shall be a priestess, raised in a consequential life. Daughter of circumstance and brought about in what some might say a too loving way._**

**_ The last shall be a grief stricken slayer, crushed under a stronger evil only to rise again from the strength within himself, sworn to destroy the evil._**

**_ These four shall be the fateful group, each having nothing in common with the other except for their main goal: TO RETRIEVE THE SHARDS"_**

On the bottom of the page, in someone else's handwriting, there was an ancient scribbled text. This read: "_Take note: it speaks of one named Inuyasha, as per my dream._" Inuyasha looked at his father, his face burning.

"This is talking about me, and the girl I met there… but I haven't met the other two, so who could they be?" his father shook his head.

"That can only be solved in you long journey. I know not what might be in your path, but my the Kami and Buddha's compassion bless you and go with you, my son." He then hugged Inuyasha and led him out of the house, Sesshoumar in tow with the bags and the spear.

When Inuyasha reached the well he stopped long enough to strap on the bags before he muttered a quick goodbye and jumped into the well, the quick leave had stunned him greatly, he hadn't known that his father would tell him to go somewhere he didn't really want to go.

_Do I actually not want to go? I could be wrong… maybe I enjoy Nekogome's company… whoa! Who just said that, couldn't have been me! I don't say crap like that! No way, I don't like her around me! She tried to kill me, after all. Why should I?_ He thought to himself, even as he blushed at the thought of her cuddling up to him when he found her freezing in the rain that one night…

When he hit the ground it seemed darker, and it was raining very heavily, so he climbed up the side, it was exceedingly difficult with the extra weight on his shoulders, threatening to pull him into the ground at any moment. Finally, he reached the top, to look around at the Sengoku Jidaii.

He was back….

Mrryl: There you are, hope you like it!

Litadrene: REVIEW! Or I'll bean you senseless!

Mrryl: Alright, Cool it Lita.

Litadrene: Hey! You didn't put in Nekogome! WHAT-IS-WRONG-WITH-YOU? Why not?

Mrryl: I wanted to make a slightly shorter chapter, mainly because I didn't know what to do with him at home and her blind…

…but yes, please review and also one early warning:

I WON'T BE ABLE TO UPDATE FOR MOST SUMMER, I'll try to get on as often as possible, but I'm not going to be updating as often as I am now. The main good side to this all is that there will be some MASSIVE updates whenever I do, so it just might be worth it. Please keep faith with my fanfic, I don't want to let you down! Also, please review!

--MRRYL


	6. Recognized Power

Mrryl: Wow, the things you find out when you read your own story online… such as this entire beginning thing will be clumped together… regardless of the fact that I start a new line whenever someone else speaks… grrr!

Litadrene: Yeah… I thought you knew that?

Mrryl: Hahaha… very funny. Shut up.

Litadrene: Ouch, touchy. Alright, I'll be touchy too! PUT NEKOGOME IN THIS CHAPTER OR I'LL BEAN YOU!

Mrryl: Okay… sheeze. By the way, tell me if this chapter seems different in its description. I want to see if music changes my perception and the way my mind thinks… a little experiment, I'd like to call it. (By the way, the music I'm listening is Out of Your Mouth's "Draghdad". It's a pretty good CD, if you're into heavy metal/semi-techno industrial stuff, which I sorta am.) Also, I don't own Inuyasha, or anything else related to anything TM'ed in this chapter!

When Inuyasha reached the village he found it in a bad condition, multiple huts

lay in crushed semblance of what they used to be. _It seems that the youkai haven't stopped attacking even though I wasn't here. _Inuyasha thought as he ran towards Kaede's hut. It lay in crumbled mockery of it's former stability. Kaede sat next to it, a large bloody gash in her forhead.

"Inuyasha, ye have returned!" she yelled to him as he ran towards her. "I have dire news for ye, a youkai attacked not long ago. It isn't really strong, it's only advantage is it's great size! It walked over the village, the villagers chased it off and are trying to kill it even now." That was when he noticed, not a single person besides Kaede was still in town, everyone must be chasing off the demon, or dead.

He kept the latter out of his mind, then asked, "Umm… which way did it go?" she pointed to the west, where Inuyasha could see a large lizard youkai, he would have called it a dragon only it looked more like Gogira (Godzilla to the non-Asian world) than a dragon. Pulling the short-shafted spear from its holster on his back, he ran towards the youkai.

Looking at the battleground, he could see a few villagers wounded, leaning against trees, blood dripping from various wounds across their bodies. Two men lay dead, or at least unconscious, on the ground. The youkai, which Inuyasha dubbed, "Gogira", was extremely tall, looming above even the Goshinboku. It's claws were covered in blood, some of it was dry but most of it ran off the creature's claws. The mouth opened in a feral scream of rage as it dove at the closest villager: A man in his mid-thirties was effectively wielding a longbow. It seemed to notice that its left side was bristling with arrows.

Inuyasha leapt forward, running as fast as he possibly could he jumped towards Gogira, swinging the short spear in a wide arc. It whistled its own screeching cry, much like that of an eagle, swooping in for its prey. The spear's small head bit into the youkai's flank, tearing a gout of blood from a small gash. The creature lost sight of its prey as the villager dove to the side, smashing into the ground with a nearly concussive explosion. The villagers near it ran away, fear finally gripping their hearts as Gogira began to rise from the ground, dirt falling from its snout as it looked around.

Inuyasha was the only person in range, so it dove for him. "Shit!" Inuyasha swore as he ran away, Gogira smashing into the ground blindly again, shaking the very foundations of the earth. Or at least that's what it seemed to Inuyasha as the blast made him all backwards, onto the youkai's snout. Inuyasha gasped as it rose from the earth, carrying him with it.

"Oh damn! What am I gonna do?" he said to himself as the lizard youkai looked at the morsel on its nose, seeming to contemplate a way to get him off its nose and into its stomach.

"Well, only one way I can think of… I really wish I had a better idea!" he yelled as he raised the spear and thrust under him with all his might, the spears sharp tip cut through the scales and into the youkai's mouth. It screeched in pain and fell backwards, landing on its back.

The momentum that Inuyasha had gained from the youkai falling, however, sent him sailing into the trees behind the creature, knocking him against a branch and then into the dirt under the tree.

_Gotta get up! Can't let that thing eat me! _He said to himself as he stumbled up, his arms aching from the grasp her had on the spear. When he was mere feet away from Gogira, it launched itself at him, not even getting to its feet it just pounced, nose down, at Inuyasha.

"SHIT!" he yelled as raised his hands, reflexes telling his hands to push away the 20 ton weight of death that was currently intent upon ripping him to shreds. Quite suddenly Inuyasha heard a sharp crack and a bright yellow and blue flash. It appeared ot be lightning that issued forth from his hands, it struck the snout of the Gogira and enveloped the entire body. The youkai stopped in mid-flight, its scales turning a dull gray and then darkening to that of an onyx. The onyx-youkai crashed into the ground, totally motionless.

"What the…." He was stunned, _what just happened? _He thought to himself as he watched the heavy statue gogira rock slightly in the wind that was just now brewing. "Hmmm… seems like rain." He said out loud as he walked over to the body, tapping it with his hand. No sooner had he done this then a large red-black ball of light flew from the body, only to shatter like a glass ball in the air. Immediately after this odd occurrence, the entire corpse began to crumple, leaving only a heavy powder all over the grass, which soon blew away on the heavy winds that ceased just as abruptly as they rose.

Kaede came riding up to him, an entourage behind her consisted of 4 peasants with spears and 2 with bows. All of her guards were on foot, running to catch up with the mounted priestess. She stopped just as he nearly slammed into the flank of the somewhat large workhorse. "Inuyasha… what happened? You look as though you have seen a kami!"

Inuyasha quickly told her all that had occurred, ending with the remains being blown away by the winds. She listened quietly and nodded when she felt it was appropriate. Finally she told Inuyasha, "This is a skill my older brother, Ano, had. He used it with his large spear to vanquish many fearsome youkai. He always acted as though this were nothing important, only as natural as walking or eating. I treated it no differently." The villagers gawked at Inuyasha, their expressions reflecting their incomprehension. Finally one seemed to have a revelation.

"Then… he would be the reincarnation of Ano, would he not Sister Kaede?" the other villagers finally understood and surrounded him, acting as if he should know each one of them. When Kaede told them to leave him alone he nearly gasped for lack of oxygen.

Reaching the village, a subject Inuyasha had completely forgotten in the excitement came to him. "Miss Kaede? Where was Nekogome through all of this?" she started in the saddle.

"Ah! I had forgotten all about her! She is still in the remains of my hut. The brazier hit her across the face when my hut was demolished, it wasn't lit but she was knocked unconscious. I left her in the rubble because the creature kept moving, so I thought she would be safer hidden there. Wait! Where are you going?" she yelled as Inuyasha dashed towards her hut, moving faster than he had ever before.

Panting, his heart beating in his chest like a hummingbird, he reached the debris. Reached for a piece of debris he pulled it up, throwing it behind him as he quickly reached for another piece. After a few moments of this quick activity he saw her most of her abdomen. He worked on getting the debris off of her face and finally managed to get everything off when a few of Kaede's guards ran forward to help him.

Once she was free he bent over to hoist her up, only to feel her awaken in his arms. "Inu- Inuyasha? Is that you?" he finally noticed the tight scarf wrapped around her eyes and remembered her condition, then he blushed. _She knows my touch! _He thought to himself as he answered her.

"Yes… are you alright? Unharmed?" he asked. She seemed to shiver in his arms and he pulled her close, earning some dark glances from a few of the villagers. She blushed, saying, "Umm… I think I'm alright. My head hurts a lot but other then that… I'm fine."

Before he could say anything she pushed herself out of his arms and stood up, sniffing. "What happened?" Inuyasha explained, everything except his special talent. "Huh. So you humans killed it. Whatever." And she turned towards the forest, stumbling to a tree and leaping up into it, grumbling about weak humans.

"What's her problem?" Inuyasha mumbled to himself, surprised when Kaede answered him. "She is hurt, vulnerable. She doesn't like the fact that ye accept her so easily. It unnerves her." So he found himself watching her, every movement and expression played across face, watching her for hours, unaware even when night fell and she sniffed, jumped down the tree and walked over to him.

"So, you gonna skip supper? Come on!" she pulled him into the makeshift hut that the villagers had built for Kaede, sitting on the ground and saying, "So, Kaede… food?" Kaede, instead of commenting on her rudeness, chuckled and ladled out three bowls of food. A full hour later the food was eaten, Kaede had two bowls, Inuyasha five, and Nekogome had somewhere between 20 and 40. Finally they wrapped up in their blanket for sleep, Inuyasha using his sleeping bag. He barely noticed when he heard someone shiver and a slight heat snuggle up beside him, and Nekogome's odd scent of sweat and oils coil with his own….

There ya go… this isn't going to be like the series all that much! I'm making Nekogome more emotional and fluffy than Inuyasha is in the series because females are usually more emotional… and you'll find out another reason later on…. but not yet!

--MRRYL


	7. Oh Little Fox Demon, Where Art Thou?

Mrryl: Sorry, this chapter took a while because I'm mainly concentrating on my RE fanfic. I'll still mainly concentrate on that because of two reasons: One, because it's my most successful fanfic out of the three. Second, because I already know EVERYTHING about it, I don't know how they get Miroku in Inu Yasha… among some other things. So if you could tell me the basic outline of that episode, I'll be able to continue this fanfic quicker. SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT! Oh yeah, FLUFF ALERT! There's gonna be some sweet sh!t in this chapter, just to let you know. Nothing serious, but some cute stuff because my other RE fanfic is seriously lacking fluff (a basic component to my life, seeing as how I'm devoid of love from anything besides my family, myself) so it might be kinda overdone in this chapter… sorry….

Inuyasha awoke to a flushed face, Nekogome was against the wall furthest from him, her hands clasped together and in her lap. She found the ground extremely interesting as she poked at it and traced designs in the hard packed earth.

Inuyasha found this perplexing, the half cat-demon was unusually embarrassed, she wouldn't even meet his eye. The sun shone through a nearby window, the shutters weren't in place yet and the wind that was blowing through it made both of them shiver. Kaede was already up, she could be heard calling out directions to the villagers, where to build huts, etc. Inuyasha stood up, his back cracking as he stretched. Walking towards her, he noticed her eventual glance in his direction, and the smile that made it's way to her face, cutting the gloomy expression like a knife through butter.

When he sat down next to her, she looked up at him and said, "I don't know what happened last night, alright? I was asleep before I hit the ground," she laughed uneasily, seemingly awaiting a rebuke or insult. She seemed completely unnerved when Inuyasha wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close, saying, "Well, I understand. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone," she cuddled up closer, allowing herself to drop her guard, if only for a few seconds. Those few seconds turned into minutes, which in turn became a full hour. Then a thought occurred to Inuyasha, "If you're blind," he said, "Then how could you see me get up?" She blushed.

"Well," she began, "I didn't see you get up. I remember your smell." She admitted this with a slight tinge of pink covering her face. "Besides, I heard your breathing change when you awoke. Your scent grew stronger when you came closer, so I knew you were coming closer." She finished, her cheeks grower redder as she looked back at the ground, her fingers one again tracing figures in the dirt.

Inuyasha obviously found this cute, because he hugged her close, so close that she gasped and jumped up, across the room so that she landed just behind the brazier, it burned with remembered coals from last night. Inuyasha was confused, one second she was snuggling up to him, the next she wanted to be away from him.

Her eyes welled with tears. "I have to go!" she said as she ran from the hut, disappearing into the morning light. Inuyasha ran after her, stopping at the entrance to let his eyes adjust. She was gone.

"Excuse me," he said to a nearby resting villager, "have you seen Nekogome run by here?" the man's face twisted into a momentary frown, only to be replaced with an indifferent expression as he pointed, "She went that way, young sir," he said as Inuyasha sped past him into the nearby forest. Inuyasha reached a clearing, only to see Nekogome slouched against a tree, her shoulder shaking with sobs.

Inuyasha thought he should say something, but decided not to. Instead, he quietly walked away, back through the trees to the village. Or at least he presumed he was walking towards the village, but soon found himself lost. Looking around, he began to talk to himself, "I think the village is this way," he said, pointing down the trail he was walking, only to doubt himself and look at another path, this one only minutely more promising than the first.

'Oh great, I'm lost!" he swore to himself, feeling like an idiot. He kept talking to himself as he walked, completely distracting himself from his current plight quite effectively. He was therefore completely aghast when he stumbled upon a battlefield, the remains of hundreds of dead warriors strewn across the field. It was blackened in places, like fire or lightning. "What? Oh yeah, I'm in the Warring Provinces Era…. Of course there'd be battles all over the place," he felt compelled to look over the bodies, he didn't know why, but it became a fascination. The battle looked like a massacre, some bodies burned to a crisp, others almost completely obliterated.

Inuyasha was speechless, the entire area burned. The further he searched, the more the battlefield looked like something from a story. It seemed that the storms themselves worked against the armies. Both sides seemed massacred, hundreds upon hundreds of people were dead.

He was so intent on the surroundings that he didn't notice the neko-hanyou slip up beside him, her hand tapped him lightly on the shoulder, snapping him out of his revere. She sniffed, "I smell blood, where are we?" she asked, her blinded eyes shifting around the area cautiously.

"It's alright, we're in a battlefield. It's already over, both sides seem to have been destroyed," he said, slightly shocked when she grabbed him and lightly hugged him.

"Good, I thought you got hurt…" she said, then backed up obviously puzzled at her own reaction. "I mean… I couldn't care less if you got hurt! Go away," she yelled, turning her back to him.

"I'm gonna go check out the area further over there, alright? Maybe we can discover what did this?" he said, barely hearing the "Feh," uttered by the perturbed girl. He rounded a tree, stopping in mid-stride when he saw a little fox youkai huddled in the bushes, trembling. Standing over that little youkai was a big, ugly demon. It looked like a humanoid frog, standing on two legs and powerfully built. He had almost no hair, a mere four strands sticking ridiculously out of his flat, scaly head.

" I could use a fox hat to go along with this lovely belt your father made for me…" the frog-like demon uttered, laughing terribly as he raised his head and opened his mouth. Light collected from his belly. _Something isn't right… what's happening? _Inuyasha asked himself, running for the little fox demon as the other one began to bring his head down. Inuyasha had barely grabbed the fox when the frog roared, a large bolt of lightning ushering forth from his maw and obliterating the entire area, easily encompassing the area where the little guy had been.

He gasped, the frog had such power! The fox kit in his arms stopped shivering, looking up at Inuyasha.

"Who are you? Don't hurt me, alright?" he begged Inuyasha, obviously thinking that Inuyasha was going to kill him.

"Don't worry, kit. I'm not hurting you, but that frog-guy—" he began, cut off when the kit jumped from his arms, pulling a small spinning top from his jacket and tossing it at the bigger demon. Inuyasha stared in shock as the top grew in size, becoming a humongous thing as it landed on the frogs head and dropped him into the ground, incapacitating him. "Come on!" yelled the little fox demon as it clambered to the battlefield and attempted to pull Inuyasha with him.

When they reached a safe spot the kit looked at Inuyasha. "I didn't need your help! I could've done it on my own!" it yelled, clapping it's hands over its mouth to quiet itself.

"Yeah, I bet you could. But you looked like you needed some help," Inuyasha began, not expecting to have to explain why he saved the kit.

"Yeah, well… I'm sorry, I'm just mad at that guy and his brother! They killed my dad and—" he was cut off by Inuyasha, "So that fox pelt around his waist is your dad?" he asked, seeing tears well up in the kids eyes. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make ya cry, kit."

The kit rubbed its eyes, saying, "Oh, it's okay. I'm Shippo! Nice to meet you…" he let his sentence trail off, expecting a name.

"Oh, I'm Inuyasha!" Inuyasha supplied, holding his hand out in greeting. Shippo took it and smiled, shaking heartily. The kit was small, he only went up to Inuyasha's knee and he was dressed in a thin wool coat and baggy blue pants made of some kind of material. His red hair was tied back into a short ponytail by a black cloth.

"Hey! Inuyasha! Where are you?" Nekogome yelled, sniffing the air as she ran towards them, her cat ears perked for the slightest hint of noise. He whispered, "Hey, Nekogome, quiet! Come here!" She stopped in Mid-stride, glancing around almost frantically.

"I smell blood, are you alright?" she whispered, concern making her voice quiver slightly. He began to stand up, wincing in pain and crying out slightly when he felt a searing pain along his entire right side of his body. Looking down, he noticed that his abdomen area was black. Then he remembered the slight pain in his side when he leapt to save Shippo, he thought it was just a stitch in his side at the time. He had been hit with that blast, probably only a glancing blow but it hurt so much. He gasped as he couldn't take the pain anymore, falling forwards to land flat on his face. He was stopped from falling only moments after he fell, finding himself in the arms of a certain neko hanyou.

"Are you hurt badly? We should get you back to Kaede!" Nekogome said, beginning to pull him up into a marital-style hold, only reversed. He stopped her, "Shippo…." He began, she nodded.

"The brat? Alright, kit, come here! We've gotta get Inuyasha back to Kaede, so grab onto my back and DON'T let go!" she said, and Inuyasha could feel the wind whistle through his hair and past his ears as she ran through the field, back towards the village. But he was quietly put to sleep by the soft beating of her heart.

Mrryl: There ya go! Now Lita can quit bugging me about writing the next chapter! Umm…. I'll try to write more for this one, now I have something to do and write about it so yeah! Sorry for all of you who want Shippo to have his revenge on Manten and Hiten, that's gonna be in a bit, I still need Inuyasha and Nekogome to get the Tetsusaiga


	8. A Grave Meeting

Mrryl: Alright, I'm gonna be working on my novel more now... my Mom is starting to get annoyed that my "practice work" is getting in the way of my real writing. Sorry, but it's going to take longer to write more chapters! Wait... I have an idea! I'm going to alternate in my writing! Each night I'll dedicate to writing one of my fanfics! So that I'll write one night on Inu Yasha, another on Resident Evil, then another on my Novel! Yay!

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Litadrene: Congrats! I wanna read your novel... let me read what you got so far!

Mrryl: Ummm... no. You can read it after I'm done the next chapter... alright?

Litadrene: Okay... Damnnit....

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Inuyasha awoke in the hut he had come to know quite well recently. Kaede was changing the bandage, with Nekogome holding onto his other side, restraining him as he tried to get up, the pain of the old bandage ripping at the scab was unbelievable in it's magnitude.

Nekogome blushed when he grabbed her lower arm and squeezed from the pain, her face turning a slight pink as her hands pressed down on his chest while Kaede worked off the bandage that had crusted with blood.

"I need this cleaned, I shall ask one of the village women to do it, please wait here, air would do the wound well anyway," Kaede said as she shuffled off, leaving the two alone.

"So, Nekogome... is it bad?" Inuyasha asked jokingly, a smile on his face. The smile vanished when he noticed the sad and frightened look in her eyes.

"I thought you were gonna die," she confessed after a few seconds of an uncomfortable silence. She shivered slightly, but continued on.

"I brought you back and told Kaede what happened, she brought you back in and when we took off the odd clothing you wore, the blood started coming," her eyes glazed with unshed tears, "I didn't think you would make it, so I ran away with Shippo... so he couldn't see you die. But the villagers didn't give up, they kept you going," she finished, the tears running down her face. He then noticed something.

"Hey, where did that cloth you wrapped around yours eyes go?" he asked, she blushed, her hand going down towards the wound on his stomach, stopping over it.

"After they stabilized you, I stayed with you all night... I slept next to you," she blushed furiously at this, her body radiated heat. "Half way through the night, I awoke drenched in your blood... I didn't know what to do, the bandage they put on you was drenched and the blood flew through it, like it wasn't there. Kaede had told me when she first gave me that cloth that it had been treated with some foreign plant that took away pain, and slowed blood flow. So I took it off, felt for the wound and I kinda... err... tied it around your wound, then I ran to get Kaede." She finished, her face red and the tears still flowing, but her voice barely quivering anymore.

"Oh! I forgot to tell you, Kaede gave us this little hut... umm... as our own little home," Nekogome said, then quickly said, "But if you don't want to share it with a half-breed, I understand, after all, she did officially give it to you-" Nekogome started, but was cut off by Inuyasha.

"Maybe I want to share it?" Inuyasha said, his voice slightly quivering.

"Really?" Nekogome asked, her eyes glittering.

_She's beautiful..._ Inuyasha thought to himself, entranced by her current expression, the quivering lip, the teary eyes. He bent upwards, ignoring the searing pain and the way his nerves screamed at him to lay back down. When his lips were a mere centimeter from hers, they both heard a light yawn.

"Shippo!" Nekogome managed to gasp before she pulled herself away, Inuyasha fell backwards to lay on the ground again, his nerves seeming to scream in pain.

The little fox youkai sat up, yawning louder and stretching. He looked at the two, noticing their flushed faces.

"What's going on? Is Inuyasha going to be okay?" Shippo asked, his eyes filled with concern for their human companion. (Gee, I never thought I'd EVER refer to IY as the "H" word... hehehe.) He slowly walked towards Inuyasha, jumping onto his chest and sitting there, then stating, in a loud voice, "I thought you were hurt bad! I talked Kaede-san into helping you quick! We thought you were dead! It was scary... plus," a playful edge snuck into his voice, "Nekogome was REALLY worried about you! She nearly sucked the blood of your wound! Any demon knows about the healing properties of a cat demon's lips," he said as Nekogome flushed a deep scarlet, grabbing Shippo and slapping him firmly across the face.

"How dare you tell him that! You-have-no-right-to-tell-him-something-as-personal-as-that!" she said all this in one breath, leaving her gasping slightly as she shook him some more, making him cry a bit as he struggled out of her grasp. She rose from her sitting position, chasing after him, extremely miffed at his intervention. When they heard Kaede's voice yelling at someone in the distance, Nekogome's cat's ears perked up as she heard a familiar voice.

"Wait... is that him?" she asked, Shippo's eyebrows perked in confusion.

"Who? Nekogome? WHO IS IT?" Shippo shouted, his patience expended within the first few seconds of waiting for an answer. Inuyasha stood up, grabbing a cane from the nearby wall and hobbling outside, his body screaming at him to sit, yet his curiosity getting the better of him as he followed out the shaking neko hanyou as they left the hut.

Outside was Kaede, standing in the middle of the street, arguing with someone who looked like a teenager, easily Inuyasha's own age. He'd have thought that this was just another villager, except for the fact that the young man wore expensive looking robes and had two other major differences: One of those was a set of elf-like ears, the other was a long cat-like tail that wrapped around his shoulder and ran down to his waist, flipping in the wind, the exact contrast to it's owner's dour face. The crescent moon on his forehead seemed to glisten purple in the sunlight. He was arguing with Kaede about Nekogome, and Inuyasha was wondering how he knew her when she gasped.

"Souta!" Nekogome gasped, he merely looked at her and smirked in scorn.

"So, sister... I see you have awakened. I thought you were gone forever," he said, then began to turn, only to have her run after him. He merely turned when she was within arm's reach, backhanding her smartly across the face to send her reeling and landing on her back.

"You are merely a filthy half-breed, I won't tolerate you anymore... maybe when Mother was alive, but I was always better than you were...." Souta said as he turned and began to walk away again, casting a glance over his shoulder at Inuyasha, who was helping Nekogome get up.

"So, you are like Mother? You really should stop taking company with humans, they are a bad influence and merely cattle. I advise you to stay away from them," he finished as he kept walking, Nekogome stood there, watching his retreating form with tears in her eyes.

"I thought we were close..." she said when he was almost out of sight. Finally the tears began to flow, at first small trails down her face but then they ran down in face in gushes, she fell to her knees, broken. After a few moments of not knowing what to do, Inuyasha limped over to Nekogome, kneeling next to her and putting an arm around her. She shrugged him off angrily.

"Leave me alone, human!" she growled as she got up and dashed off, disappearing into the forest.

"Damn! Why did she decide to call me 'human'?" Inuyasha asked no one, only to get a response from Shippo, who had walked up to his side, unnoticed, when Nekogome ran off.

"Hmmm... maybe it's because she wants her little brother to like her, and she thinks you're the reason?" he said.

Inuyasha was annoyed by this, but patted Shippo on the head as he began to follow Nekogome into the woods, her woods.

There you have it! This is the end of this chapter (obviously) and I just hope I haven't taken too long so that all the readers have stopped reading it – if they have then I'll stop writing this but hopefully that won't happen.


	9. Meeting A Grave

Author's Piece: Thanks to NefCanuck, this continuing chapter is for you. I hope you enjoy it. It took amazingly long, mainly because Lita isn't around anymore, I couldn't bring myself to work on this – but I'm kinda over that now. Here you all go: The next chapter.

Point of View: Nekogome

It was cold, annoying, dark, and lonely. The last thing on her mind was her condition though. Her mind was replaying the last hour or two over in her head.

"How can this be happening?" Nekogome asked the leaves that she heard rustling overhead.

There was no answer.

"I even screwed up with Inuyasha… I can't believe I was so mean to him," she said to herself, "he must think I'm a jerk."

It was then she smelled something familiar on the breeze.

"What's that?" She asked herself.

The scent was obviously familiar. Nekogome just couldn't place it, and that bothered her. She was sitting rigid, ears perked and tail extended, but she couldn't tell what it was. It was something distant, something from her past…

"Momma?" she mumbled, surprising herself. Was it?

She dropped from her branch, the grass soft beneath her feet. She had to go on, wanting to find out what that scent really was. Following the scent, she ended up traveling in a general direction. East, she had to travel east.

After about a half hour traveling east, the scent was nearly overpowering.

"Damn! Where is it coming from?" she asked herself as she looked around. The clearing she found herself in was quite large, with an opening in the middle that was about the size of her.

"Is… is that a barrow?" She asked anyone. Barrows are the graves of Neko Youkai.

"Yes… yes it is…" said a voice to her left.

She felt it more than saw it, a powerful breeze, the singing heat, and then she jumped, soaring a few feet into the air as the flaming weapon cut into the trees around her. They caught flame and burned quickly, the trunks groaning and the trees falling as the canopy became too much for the weakened trunks to bear.

"Who the hell did that?" Nekogome yelled as she landed, surveying the burning damage around her.

"Why… me, of course. Damn Half-Breed really ARE stupid, aren't they?" said the voice, Nekogome spun around.

"Souta!" she yelled.

"Yes, now… leave this area or be destroyed," Souta said quite seriously.

"But… but why, Souta? I remember when you were smaller than me... you didn't treat me badly… I was your family, your sister," Nekogome said, her eyes stinging with tears.

"Yes… but you disappeared on me, left Jii-chan and I alone. He made me see how worthless Half-Breeds really are. He's the reason I am as powerful as I am," Souta said, his amber eyes glistening in the flames of the burning trunks.

"But… why would he do this?" Nekogome asked Souta, who merely shrugged and laughed.

"I guess he had enough, he always was muttering about how mother was always 'toying with human men', he showed me how pathetic humans are, I've seen them beg for life. I've seen them die by the thousands. It's truly stupid," Souta said, his eyes opening wider as he drew his hand back, "Now… die," he said as he throw his hand forwards, tracing a thin line of heat across the clearing.

Nekogome leapt, barely making it in time as the thin line of heat made the trees around her erupt into flame.

"See the power I wield?" Souta asked her, not waiting for a response as he drew his hand back again. This time, anger made Nekogome act, "Leave my forest alone!" she shouted as she used her demonic aura to launch her from midair into a collision course with her younger half-brother.

The impact knocked Souta off of his feet, and Nekogome hurtled past him, slamming into a tree nearby as Souta slowly got to his feet.

"You've had your time, girl, now I really suggest you die," he said as he drew his hand back again. This time he stopped, eyes widening slightly as he looked to his right.

"Now, now, Souta, it is not the time for this! I thought I told you to leave her alone!" said a barely recognizable voice.

"Jii-chan!" yelped Nekogome as the venerable old man appeared behind a nearby tree.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't cross the great Souta! You're a fool if you do, he's far more powerful than you'll ever be," said Nekogome's grandfather, "I never wanted your mother to marry that human! I always warned her, he'd die long before you ever bear a child! But no! Why would she listen to me? I'm just the overseer of the entire damn clan! So when she died, AFTER having you, no less, I made sure you were left somewhere… if it weren't for that damned guardian… you'd have been dead for quite some time now." Jii-chan said.

"What?" Nekogome asked, eyebrows raised, eyes filling with tears.

"Yes, yes, you pathetic half-breed," Jii-chan continued, "I only bothered with you because of your mother, your father was a repugnant filth in the bloodline."

It was then that all three of them felt an odd pull, like that of a vortex, towards… something else.

"What is that?" asked Souta, his hand erupting into demon-fire.

Suddenly the pull became a violent tug, and Nekogome felt herself being ripped apart, for a split second she thought she was dead. But when she opened her eyes, she was standing atop a massive pile of bones.

The pull was gone, but she still felt the magic surrounding her. She looked on, an extremely large skull was situated on the mountain of bones.

Meanwhile….

((AN: Sorry it took me soooo long. I'm not sure if I could continue this… I'm trying though…))


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